Sunday, 26 May 2024

Sounds of 2014, nos. 75 to 71

Time to get back to the Equestrian Trot 100 chart, to see what kind of music was rocking the fandom ten years ago. As ever, this means popular then, not necessarily released then. Also as ever, here's a run-down of the criteria I use for inclusion:

Rule 1: Still available in the same or (1b) similar form direct from the/an original artist.
Rule 2: Available from a third party, with reason to believe the artist is fine with this.
Rule 3: So famous that it would be plain silly to leave it out.
Rule 4: Being unlisted is not, on its own, grounds for exclusion.

There is one skip this week, which as usual is something of a pity, but these things happen. It doesn't meet any of the criteria, so that's that. Here's the list of what we do have:

75: Foozogz – Winter Spirit
74: Foozogz – Make a Wish (Cotton Candy RMX)
73: YourEnigma – My Roommate is a "Bassist"

72: skipped
71: Vocal Score – Under Luna's Sky

Past the jump break, there'll be the usual collection of YouTube embeds and Loganish rambles. Why yes, I did just copy and paste that bit from last time.

Rule 1: uploaded to YouTube 22 Dec 2013
As there was last week, so is there this week: a Foozogz track on the list. The artist is still active on YouTube, making him one of the longer-lasting musicians from our fandom. This Hearth's Warming-themed number includes lovely layered synths, plenty of bloopiness and plenty of nicely judged repeating samples from show songs that remind me just slightly of how PinkiePieSwear or Sim Gretina used to use such things. "Winter Spirit" nicely blends a relaxed feeling with some bouncy energy. The single track costs $1 on Foozogz' Bandcamp, but the album it's on (I Have a Red N' Black OC) is name-your-price.

Rule 1: uploaded to YouTube 4 Mar 2014
It's that guy Foozogz yet again. This time, though, it's with a remix of the cheery final song from "Pinkie Pride". This is classic Foozogz, happy hardcore with ridiculous amounts of energy – something which suits this particular song very well indeed. The 16-bit-console-esque instrumental section is particularly enjoyable, but the whole thing is very well put together. Hey, I can repeat the previous entry's ending word for word! And you know what? I will. More Logan laziness! The single track costs $1 on Foozogz' Bandcamp, but the album it's on (I Have a Red N' Black OC) is name-your-price.

Rule 1: uploaded to YouTube 13 Aug 2013
Another durable artist now in YourEnigma, although they don't seem to have uploaded anything to their YT account in the last couple of years, and no Pony content for much longer than that. This track, kind of foreshadowing the duet in "Slice of Life" two years later, starts out with a classical-esque piece led by Octavia – but a little way in, the wubs start coming. Then we go into a catchy "Love is in Bloom" remix, since the narrative is that this is a rehearsal for a performance at that wedding. Then it segues into something out-and-out wubby. The mix of styles won't be to everyone's tastes, and occasionally it does sound awkward, but mostly it works. I still have no idea why there are the inverted commas around "Bassist" – is the title a reference to something? Whatever, pick it up in HQ for $1 on YourEnigma's Bandcamp.

72: skipped

Rule 1: uploaded to YouTube 4 Feb 2014
Vocal Score is another artist who was around the fandom for several years but hasn't posted anything for quite some while now. Under a year into his time as an MLP musician, his was his first electronic release. Very catchy vocals in the first half, even if personally I'd prefer them without the vocoder-y effects. (I saw him at BUCK 2014 and he could certainly sing nicely without that aid.) So a fine start to the track, though I'm a bit less keen on the very repetitive section about two-thirds of the way through. At least there's a nice synth solo to kick things back into gear as we near the end of the song. You can get this in HQ for £1 from Vocal Score's Bandcamp.

2 comments:

  1. aaah, Foozogz has always been so good :D He just dropped an EP yesterday, as a matter of fact, featuring his first foray into using his own vocals! I love "Winter Spirit", it's one of his best pony songs.

    And Octavia's roommate is a "bassist" because she plays bass, but she doesn't play the bass. You dig? :V

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    1. I suppose I do dig, but sheesh that's a very clunky joke. It doesn't work at all for me. Good job the song is good!

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